Kaberi
Though humans, elves, and whatnot existed in the region, Kladene was, in ancient times time dominated by the most ancient of empires: the Haverian Empire. They are believed to be the source of the continent Kladene’s name, being called “Kratinu” in their tongue. The Haverians, or as they called themselves, the Kaberi, also referred to in pre-Veritasian Velrus Cult texts as the “Chaverim”, were a powerful race, with each of their number being comparable to a demigod. They possessed all of the strengths of all of the greatest races- the skill, precision, elegance, and magical mastery of the elves, the intelligence and craftsmanship of the greatest dwarves, strength greater than that of the orcks, and adaptability, ingenuity, and will greater than the humans. It is believed by some that the Kaberi were created by Velrus, the Omnigenitor, to be the inheritors of Alta. This is one of the arguments used by those who advocate for Kastaon worship- that the races of man, elf, dwarf, orck, etc. were planned to be replaced. Regardless, the Pax Haveria wouldn’t last. The infernal Dark Gate was created in the far north, and there, Kastaon created his minions- the vast Vuuldrog hordes, and the terrifying demonic Edkad legions. Though the Kaberi were certainly prepared for war, even prepared for a war of an incredible scale, they would not survive the coming onslaught. Though they had the greatest engines of war ever devised- the mighty bronze-colored living Titans, whose fiery gaze would incinerate all which it fell upon- and incredibly powerful magic that could pull comets from the great beyond and send them crashing down to Alta, and create massive storms that could toss an entire city into the air as if the buildings were mere toys, they could not stop the seemingly-endless onslaught of the Vuuldrog cannon fodder and the hard-hitting Edkadi, particularly the very powerful Khrotok demons. The entire continent was eventually overrun, and soon the Kaberi homeland of Rudeka, a large island in the seas to the west of Kladene, and eventually their capital and last bastion, Zakuntha, was under siege. It was there that the last great Titan legion was sent out to battle outside the city, stalling the advance of Kastaon’s forces for three days, as the remaining Kaberi leadership began preparing to take a drastic action. After three days, the last Titan had fallen in the killing fields a mile out from Zakuntha. The king of the Kaberi, one known as Peraku, gathered all of the most powerful living magic-users in the great palace of Zakuntha. There, they bored a hole so deep that even a Titan wouldn’t be able to see over the top. They then carefully lowered an object of immense power known as the Heart of Zakuntha to the bottom. As the city’s walls were being breached, scaled, and otherwise bypassed, the great mages began a ritual in the palace. There, they were invoking as much power as each of them could possibly muster, and each of them directed that energy toward an object known as the God Stone. As the palace guard desperately fought off waves of Vuuldrogs and demons, the God Stone was finally filled with such power that no man dared even look at it straight on, for fear it would blind him. Finally, as a mighty Khrotok demon breached the inner sanctum, Peraku cast the final spell, and the God Stone was sent plummeting down the pit toward the Heart of Zakuntha with incredible speed. The two collided, and it caused a release of energy so massive and powerful that it instantly annihilated the bulk of the island in a gigantic explosion, and destabilized the rest of it, causing it to sink into the ocean, all the while, the greatest magic storms ever seen wreaked havoc on the invaders. Incredible winds would toss the invaders into the upper atmosphere, where they would die agonizing deaths in the low pressure and extreme temperatures. Immensely powerful bolts of lightning vaporized even mighty Khrotoks instantly. The entire island was destroyed. The last bastion of the Kaberi had exploded and sank into the ocean. The vast majority of Kastaon’s legions were destroyed there, and the Kaberi met the same fate.